Key to the Heart
by cjackson
Summary: With Jack gone Daniel tries to deal with the loss of another family. That is until the unexpected happens.


Daniel walked slowly into his office his heart heavy. It had been a long day; hours spent translating an Ancient tablet hoping to find some clue to help with their fight against the Ori, but to no avail. Pinching the bridge of his nose to try and ease his pounding head, he walked over to his coffee machine to pour himself a cup of cold coffee, which he was hoping would give him the strength to continue working through the night. As he sat down he saw the photo Sam had brought be his office earlier that day. It was of him and Jack sitting by the lake in Minnesota. Well Jack had been sitting, Daniel had just come to sit beside him, when his chair had collapsed and Daniel had fallen unceremoniously to the ground, in a tangle of arms and legs. Jack had been laughing so hard you could almost see the tears streaming down his face. Maybe he should give Jack a call, see how he was going, maybe suggest Jack come visit him for the weekend, catch up.

Picking up the phone he dialed the number for Jack's cell, it was after seven so he should be free to talk now and Daniel needed to hear his friend's voice again, needed Jack to tell him everything would be ok. But Daniel didn't receive the reassurances he needed, just a cold heartless voice message asking him to leave his name and number. He wondered how long had it been since they had sent Jack away and left him all alone again. Only a few short months he knew, but when one is alone a moment can seem like a lifetime. Daniel knew he still had Sam and Teal'c and they were great as always, but it wasn't the same, they weren't Jack, Jack had been Daniel's family when he had none. Jack and Daniel had an unspoken connection, like they were two halves of the one being. Jack had always known when Daniel needed him and had been there beside him through the hard times. Surely he must have imagined those short years of happiness that he and Jack had spent as friends, as family. "No one gets left behind." Jack's promise seemed to hold no meaning now; he had left Daniel behind, sad and alone with an ache in his heart for a family that was no more. Family it seemed was a wish Daniel would never have fulfilled and it was time to let go of childhood fantasies and to get on with his life.

His lonely thoughts were interrupted by the gate alarm, notifying the base of an unauthorized traveler. Up in a moment he was running for the gate room to see if he could be of any help. No team was due back for a least another forty eight hours so whatever this was it probably wasn't good. Slowing down as he passed through the blast doors he noticed the Colonel Mitchell already stood at the base of the ramp.

"What's going on?"

"Not sure it's SG5; hope it's nothing too serious."

"Didn't they only leave like two hours ago?"

"Yeah, they were on a mineral survey supposed to be gone a week."

Daniel was about to reply when a lone figure stepped through the event horizon, a young women unconscious in his arms. Daniel had to look twice, the man was thin to the point of starvation, hair the color of snow and eyes so deep and haunted that it was chilling, but Daniel would have recognized him anywhere. It was Jack! Much older and more battle worn but definitely Jack O'Neill! The girl in his arms drew Daniel's eye her dark curls falling around her delicate face, even covered in dirt from head to toe as she was Daniel could still see that she was beautiful. But who was she and what was going on? Before he had a chance to ask any of this, Jack stumbled and both he and girl fell unceremoniously to the ramp below. With no thought to his personal safety and ignoring Cameron's cries of protest Daniel ran forward to assist.

"Jack?"

He knelt before the older man who looked up at him, obviously fighting to remain conscious.

"...Daniel…alive….missed you…"

He really wasn't looking good, Daniel was sure that Cameron had called a medical team, where were they? And what was Jack on about, of course he was alive, come on already where's the medical team, he's getting worse. Jack's breath's were coming in short and shallow now each breath seemed to be harder than the last.

"It's ok Jack help is on its way, everything will be alright."

"…Not me….help her...Danny, help her…"

Daniel looked over to the young women who lay to the side of the ramp, she was still unconscious but Cameron was with her, he could help until the medical team arrived. Though there was something about her that just didn't feel right, almost like he should know her, maybe he knew her when he was ascended? But why would Jack be so worried about her?

"Jack, Colonel Mitchell is with her, she'll be fine. You need to worry about you now. Just hang in there."

"NO…..you don't understand…."

Daniel inhaled, looking into his face; he suddenly knew what Jack was trying to tell him.

"…She's your daughter." 

* * *

Ok, hope you liked it. Its my first attempt at fanfic so any feedback would be appreciated. Hey if I find some people actually like it I may keep going with it. 


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